“Granny D” for Bernie Sanders

On Monday, WNC for Bernie Sanders hosted “Go Granny D!” at New Mountain in downtown Asheville.
The show is performed by Barbara Bates Smith and Jeff Sebens, and is about the late Granny D, a 90-year-old woman who walked across America to protest campaign reform, according to WNC for Bernie Sanders’ website.
Carole Schaefer, the founder of WNC for Bernie Sanders, said the group of 900 volunteers puts on events like “Go Granny D!” to encourage voters to support Sanders in the upcoming election.
“Barbara is an accomplished actress and she’s been traveling with the show for quite a while,” Schaefer said. “She came to one of our events and she approached me and said ‘Hey, how would you like this?’ and I went ‘Great, yes!’”
According to the website for WNC for Bernie Sanders, the group strongly encourages voter registration and has events planned consistently through the election season, including democratic debate parties that take place at New Mountain.
Schaefer said the group uses the local democratic party headquarters to make phonecalls, but has no office space there.
“We’re not operating with a budget, we are very low-budget,” says Schaefer, laughing. “Everything that we do is basically, somebody offers a donation.”
Bernie Sanders shirts were for sale after the event during the discussion that followed the show, connecting “Go Granny D!” to Sanders’ platform.

Jess Williamson

Jess Williamson is a sophomore Mass Communication major and Dance minor at UNC Asheville. She calls Mount Airy, NC home when she has to leave the mountains she loves. She takes pictures constantly and is excited to participate on the site.

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